There is nothing like Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. It is an apocalyptic work requiring vast forces: a giant orchestra, as well as an organ, chorus, two soloists and multiple offstage musicians. Mahler poses the great questions of life and provides heart-stopping answers. In the finale the earth quakes, graves burst open, the last trumpet sounds, and a heavenly choir reassures all humankind: "Rise again, yes, thou shalt rise again." Of the culminating moments Mahler wrote: "A feeling of overwhelming love fills us with blissful knowledge and illuminates our existence."

Dame Sarah Connolly, acclaimed as one of the greatest Mahler singers in living memory, sings the mezzo-soprano part, which includes the ineffable song "Urlicht." Her 2022 BPO performance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde sublimely demonstrated the poignancy that she brings to Mahler's music. She and Swedish soprano Miah Persson sing the mezzo and soprano part, respectively, on Maestro Zander's recording of the Mahler Second with the London Philharmonia Orchestra (you can hear it here).

Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, is—to only a slightly lesser degree than The Rite of Spring—a work that revolutionized music around the beginning of the 20^th century, with its gossamer textures, subtle voluptuousness and elusive harmonies. Sixty-seven years ago Walton's Cello Concerto premiered in Symphony Hall with the legendary cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. BPYO alum Leland Ko, recent first prize winner of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) Competition, will bring it home again, with his richly lyrical tone and virtuosic flair. Maestro Zander says of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, "It overflows with love. From its first notes, emotion-drenched themes well up in an unstoppable flood, all clothed in Rachmaninoff's most gorgeous orchestration."

Sibelius: Finlandia Op. 26

Tchaikovsky: March Slav

Schuman: Piano Concerto in A Minor Op. 54 with Bryan Ojeda